Marketers Have Figured Out What We Already Knew About Redheads

Gingers might have it rough in real life — facing historical discrimination for their coloring — but at least the world of American advertising recognizes the enduring truth: Redheads are just sexier.

According to a new media study published by the Huffington Post, redheads are disproportionately well-represented in primetime TV commercials. Despite the fact that natural redheads only make up a tiny percentage of the human population in the U.S. and worldwide, they make up nearly a third of the people onscreen who are trying to sell you something.

Why is there such a discrepancy? As the Daily Dot points out, the color red is often associated with sexuality (as evidenced by how women who wear red are seen as sexual competition by other women). But seeing red is found to stimulate appetite as well, inspiring this brilliant line of questioning from the Dot: "What if redheads don't just turn male viewers on? What if they don't just intrigue us like beautiful crimson comets streaking across the monochromatic television sky? What if they just make us hungry?"

Whatever the psychological reason may be, advertisers and consumers alike are apparently unaffected by the very real discrimination that redheads face in life. Though the world may hold some irrational bias against flamed-haired people — to the point where redheaded sperm donors are considered undesirable — we are still happy to see redheads like Christina Hendricks, Jessica Chastain and Emma Stone onscreen. Maybe it's because they're sexy, or because we're all just hungry.